By Gerardo Bolong

It took a huge effort at the end, but West Seattle claimed the 2013 District 7 Little League Majors (age 11-12) All-Star baseball championship at its Bar-S Play Fields in West Seattle on a warm afternoon near Alki beach on Saturday, July 6.

Dylan Diggdon's walk off home run over the fence in straight away center field in the bottom of the sixth inning capped off a dramatic West Seattle comeback in an 12-8 provisional finals win against Pac West in a game that also served as a state championship qualifier. West Seattle will face a District 4 foe on July 13, at 4:30 p.m. at Luke Jensen Sports Park in Vancouver. The Park is located at 4000 NE 78th St.

"It looked like a fast ball," said Diggdon. "I was just hoping for a hit up the middle. It was more than I hoped for and it looked like a fast ball. After he threw two balls and a strike, I expected a fast ball. I knew he was going to aim it."

Trailing 9-6 going into the final inning, West Seattle kept its battling attitude. Will Douglas drew a lead off walk ahead of Joe Pare's single. Henry Muench drove home two runs on a deep double to narrow the deficit to 9-8. One out later, Kenji Suzuki flipped up a single and later reached second base on a wild pitch to bring Diggdon to his fateful at bat that resulted in victory.

West Seattle manager Jason Woodward explained his team concept for the entire tournament.

"From day one, we had a goal," explained Woodward. "Don't look at the scoreboard and compete on every play until the last out. We hadn't hit (well) all day. Once we did hit, it was contagious. The crowd also got into it."

After being held to two late inning runs in the morning game against Pac West, West Seattle actually grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Suzuki and Diggdon each knocked home a run in the three-hit inning. Suzuki's RBI came by way of a double down the left field line while Diggdone chased home a run on a single. After this sequence, the West Siders went on a scoring sabbatical for the next three innings while Pac West gained the lead and kept tacking on to it.

Adrian Brown led off with a solo homer and the Pac West All-Stars placed runners on second and third base with one out before being unable to score further in the second inning. Brown's two-run single plus an Ethan Weets one-base hit for another run in the third inning gave PW a 4-2 margin.

Another three-run inning in the third pushed Pac West away to a 7-2 command. John Kemp doubled home one run while Larry Siler and Brown had one RBI each.

Pac West stretched its control to 9-2 in the fifth inning. Dylan Shaw singled home a run and later scored on a wild pitch for a 9-2 Pac West advantage.

Big time heroics spurred a four-run West Seattle fifth. Henry Ruf's run-scoring single and Chris Frost's two-run single were the key blows that drew the West Siders close enough to forge their sixth inning, last ditch rally.

"We had them on the ropes," said Pac West manager Paul Kemp. "The kids fought hard for 12 innings today. We told them that the only thing that could have made a difference was to win on Wednesday (a 1-0 loss to West Seattle)."

The player roster for District 7 champion West Seattle includes Henry Muench, Kai Osaka, Kenji Suzuki, Henry Ruf, Dylan Diggdon, Jarek Woodward, Chris Frost, Will Douglas, Joe Pare, Noah Olhing, Nathan Pelley and Jack Summers.

Manager Woodward is assisted by coaches David Douglas and John Muench.

Players for runner up Pac West are John Kemp, Josh Enciso, Larry Siler, Adrian Brown, Mark McClean, Ethan Weets, Noah Gordon, Dylan Shaw, Carden Sadettan, Nick Joyal, Will Roberson and Tyler Anderson.
Manager Kemp is assisted by coaches Steve McClean, Forrest Hillyard and Jeff Kemp.